The First 64-Bit Snapdragon Processor Won’t Be in a Phone You’ll Want

The First 64-Bit Snapdragon Processor Won't Be in a Phone You'll Want

Apple started a wave when it announced its new A7 processor--the brain of all its flagship products—would be 64-bit. Competitors have been keen to catch up, and now Qualcomm’s making its move with the new Snapdragon 410, the first 64-bit chip in the line. The catch? It’s for low and midrange phones.

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Some of iWork’s missing features return with the latest update

Some of the features culled during iWork’s 64-bit transition have reappeared with the productivity suite’s latest update. To start, Pages, Numbers and Keynote for OS X are regaining their sorely missed custom toolbars. Additionally, Apple’s Keynote presentation app for both desktop and iOS picks up a handful of new builds and slide transitions. Oh, and of course there are the typical stability improvements and bug fixes across the board. If you’re curious about what else is back, we’ve listed the full release notes after the break.

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Weekly Roundup: Apple iPhone 5s and 5c hands-on, LG G2 review, Moto X’s Texas factory, and more!

The Weekly Roundup for 12032012

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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What Apple’s 64-Bit Architecture Really Means For Your iPhone

What Apple's 64-Bit Architecture Really Means For Your iPhone

Probably the most underrated announcement Apple made on Tuesday was its move to 64-bit architecture for the iPhone 5S. It’s an industry first, and one with major repercussions both for your phone and for the future of Apple. Here’s why it matters.

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Samsung: Our Next-Gen Phones WIll Have 64-Bit Processors, Too

Samsung: Our Next-Gen Phones WIll Have 64-Bit Processors, Too

Not be outdone by Apple, Samsung has swiftly reacted to the announcement of Cook & Co.’s new 64-bit A7 processor by announcing that its next slew of phones will pack similar silicon, thank you very much.

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Samsung says its next-gen smartphones will have 64-bit processors too

Samsung says its nextgen smartphones will have 64bit processors too

Samsung’s mobile business head JK Shin has said that the company’s next smartphones will feature a 64-bit CPU, according to the Korea Times. The remarks follows Apple’s launch of the iPhone 5s, the first handset with the 64-bit, billion transistor A7 processor and 64-bit OS 7. Saying that Samsung is aware of Apple’s ambitions in China, the exec added that a device with such a chip would come “not in the shortest time,” but that “our next smartphones will have 64-bit processing capability.” They could use the ARMv8 64-bit architecture that ARM has been promoting for quite awhile now, since Samsung is a prominent licensee. Does that mean a Galaxy S 5 flagship will become the Korean company’s first to use the tech? Cue the rumors and speculation.

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Source: Korea Times

Apple unveils A7 chip, brings 64-bit processing to the iPhone 5s

Apple unveils A7 chip, brings 64bit processing to the iPhone 5S

Apple has just laid claim to a world first: 64-bit processing inside a real, ready-for-sale smartphone. The new A7 processor will power the iPhone 5s with a “desktop-class architecture” consisting of over 1 billion transistors. That’s twice as many transistors as were squeezed into the A6 and, for the sake of context, it’s not a million miles away from the 1.4 billion transistors found in a current Intel Ivy Bridge desktop-class PC chip. In other words, while ARM’s own 64-bit mobile chip design, the Cortex-A57, is still being developed by chip- and phone-makers, Apple’s in-house team has pipped them all to the post.

Largely as a result of the extra transistors and 64-bit architecture, the A7 is claimed to be twice as fast as its predecessor, both in terms of CPU and graphics performance. Speaking of graphics, Apple also promises that its newly added support for the OpenGL ES 3.0 standard will enable “breakthroughs in performance” for visually intensive games such as Infinity Blade III. And it won’t just be games that benefit — iOS 7 will be 64-bit too, naturally, and Apple’s own built-in apps will be “re-engineered” to exploit this next-gen processing capability. (The A7 and iPhone 5s will also be backwards compatible with existing 32-bit apps.)

Finally, it’s interesting note that the iPhone 5s has a secondary processor, the Apple M7, which is tailored for processing motion and other sensory inputs and is presumably designed for unburdening the main chip and allowing the iPhone 5s to work as a fitness tracker and accomplish other sensory-based tasks without excessive battery drain.

Check out all the coverage at our iPhone ‘Special Event‘ 2013 event hub!

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Intel launches 8-core Itanium 9500, teases Xeon E7-linked Kittson

Intel launches Poulsonbased Itanium 9500, teases Xeon E7linked Kittson

Intel’s Itanium processor launches are few and far between given that only so many need its specialized grunt, but that just makes any refresh so much larger — and its new Itanium 9500 certainly exemplifies that kind of jump. The chip centers around much more up-to-date, 32-nanometer Poulson architecture that doubles the cores to eight, hikes the interconnect speeds and supports as much as 2TB of RAM for very (very, very) large tasks. With the help of an error-resistant buffer, Intel sees the 9500 being as much as 2.4 times faster as the Tukwila-era design it’s replacing. The new Itanium also ramps the clock speeds to a relatively brisk 1.73GHz to 2.53GHz, although there will be definite costs for server builders wanting to move up: the shipping roster starts at $1,350 per chip in bulk and climbs to an eye-watering $4,650 for the fastest example.

Anyone worried that Poulson might be the end of the road for Intel’s EPIC-based platform will also be glad to get a brief reminder that Itanium will soldier on. The next iteration, nicknamed Kittson, will be framed around a modular design that shares traces of silicon and the processor socket with the more familiar Xeon E7. Intel casts it as a pragmatic step that narrows its server-oriented processors down to a common motherboard and should be cheaper to make. It’s likely that we’ll have to be very patient for more details on Kittson knowing the long intervals between Itanium revamps, but fence-sitting IT pros may just be glad that they won’t have to consider jumping ship for awhile yet.

Continue reading Intel launches 8-core Itanium 9500, teases Xeon E7-linked Kittson

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Intel launches 8-core Itanium 9500, teases Xeon E7-linked Kittson originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ARM’s Cortex-A50 chips promise 3x performance of current superphones by 2014, throw in 64-bit for good measure

ARM's CortexA50 chips promise 3x performance of current superphones by 2014, throw in 64bit for good measure

We knew this was coming, not least because someone let the cat out of the bag (or at least a paw) last night. Nevertheless, it’s only today that we’re getting the full picture of ARM’s “clean sheet” v8 architecture, and you know what? It’s pretty astounding. Top billing goes to the Cortex-A57, which is said to deliver “three times the performance of today’s top smartphones” without guzzling any additional power. Alternatively, the chip could be designed to deliver the same performance as a current smartphone or tablet but make the battery last five times as long — which would make that Surface RT just about five times nicer than it is already. How’s all this possible? Read on for more.

Continue reading ARM’s Cortex-A50 chips promise 3x performance of current superphones by 2014, throw in 64-bit for good measure

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ARM’s Cortex-A50 chips promise 3x performance of current superphones by 2014, throw in 64-bit for good measure originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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